


Spelunking

by seldomifever



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/M, Older Man/Younger Woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25896514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seldomifever/pseuds/seldomifever
Summary: Buffy and Giles in a cave. With snakes.
Relationships: Rupert Giles/Buffy Summers
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32





	Spelunking

“Not too tight.” Giles slipped his finger beneath the tourniquet comfortably. Good. He’d once read that bandages on snakebites should always be kept loose.

“…Which is why spelunking ought to be left to spelunkers,” Buffy said, as she knotted her bandana around Giles’ calf.

“It’s not as if I did this on purpose, Buffy.” Giles hated when his voice took that tone. Irritable, officious. Buffy didn’t deserve it, but his leg throbbed. He was certain he could feel venom coursing through his veins. He needed to remain calm. He’d once read that panic kills nearly as many snakebite victims as venom. Was that true? His chest tightened at the thought. He concentrated on his breathing. In through his nose. Two. Three. Four. Out through his mouth. Two. Three. Four.

“Maybe not on purpose, but you did insist we track that Weimaraner into the mountains and follow it down into this cave. I told you we should have waited for it back in Sunnydale.”

“Weinmarchen,” Giles corrected as he watched her organize the equipment they would take with them. She pulled a rope, a knife, a large plastic bag, and a bottle of water from her pack. They’d have to travel light. “I hadn’t considered snakes,” Giles said, looking around to see if there were others nearby.

“You’re the Watcher—isn’t that your job?” Buffy teased.

Giles frowned. She was right. Inexcusable. Perhaps, had he not been so consumed with his evening’s plans, he might have noticed the snake before it struck. In all fairness, headlamps do illuminate only a small portion of the path; he might not have seen the sodding creature, even if he had been paying attention.

“Don’t worry. I got ‘im.” Buffy lifted the snake and placed it in the plastic bag carefully. “No more tasty treats for Shere Khan, here.”

“Shere Kahn was the tiger. I believe you are referring to Kaa?” 

Buffy ignored his remark and offered Giles her hand. He held tight. She pulled him up effortlessly, steadying him as he swayed. She led him to the side of the cave and leaned him against a curve in the damp rock wall. Igneous granite, he remembered reading. Giles shook his head. Useless information.

Buffy grabbed the rope and began rigging the line through his harness. When she appeared satisfied with her last knot, she turned her back to him, bent her knees, and spread her arms, motioning for him to climb on board. Giles hesitated, trying to gauge how on earth she would be able to hold him--he was twice her size. But what choice did he have? He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and groaned as she pulled his legs around her waist. How humiliating.

Giles couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this close to her. He inhaled. She smelled of flowers, like a warm meadow on a summer’s day. She had no place here in the darkness.

“And once I’m done tying you to my back - here hold this - we’ll be out of this cave in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. Why a lamb’s tail?” Buffy pulled the rope tight. Too tight. Giles winced.

“I haven’t the faintest. Honestly, Buffy, you needn’t go to all this trouble. I’m perfectly capable of holding on.” But as the words left his lips, a wave of dizziness washed over him. Insufferable girl. Always right.

“Hate to break it to you, Giles, but you’re going to be tied to me ‘til we get to the car. Can’t have you passing out and falling off, now, can we?”

Buffy carried him twenty meters to where they'd rappelled into the cave – they’d just got underway. She reached for the static rope they'd left hanging and tugged. Still secure. 

“Gimme your glasses.” Giles opened his mouth to argue but stopped himself. He handed Buffy his glasses. He could feel her tuck them somewhere in her gear. “All set. Comfortable back there?”

“Comfortable?” She began to climb. The harness dug into his thighs. “Hardly. You might allow me to retain at least some semblance of dignity. Put me down when we reach the path.” 

“Can’t. Blood flow bad, remember?”

“Before you reach the ranger’s station, then. How is it going to look?” Giles heard himself whine. He never whined. Good Lord, he _was_ dying.

“I don’t care about looks. I care about Watchers who get bitten by poisonous snakes,” she said sharply.

Giles could not blame her for feeling irritated. He sounded awful, even to himself. And yet-- 

“Venomous.” 

“Huh?”

“Venomous. Poison is what one eats; venom is what one is injected with when one is bitten. Technically not poisonous to eat, so…venomous.”

“Jeez, Giles, even when you think you’re dying, you still can’t help yourself, can you?” 

It seemed he could not. His grip on Buffy weakened. “Give me a few moments. I may pass out yet.” 

“Don’t. Keep talking.” 

“As you wish.”

“Now, wouldn’t we get along so much better if you’d always say that instead of, ‘You have no idea what you’re talking about, Buffy’?” 

God, he had said those very words to her earlier, hadn’t he? Prat. He’d felt so certain this morning. Knew exactly how the day would go. They would track the Weinmarchen demon to its nest, kill it, extract the venom from its endolymphatic sac, and set up camp for the night. Giles would then reveal the real reason he’d dragged Buffy to this godforsaken spot in the first place. But now he was going to die, not in battle, not sacrificing himself for his Slayer, but done in by a rattlesnake in Southern California. Good Lord. His heart raced. He struggled to calm himself. Concentrate. Think of Buffy. Why had he waited so long to tell her? 

“Buffy?”

“Uh-huh?” 

“I’m sorry.”

“No biggie, Giles. I could carry two of you if you weren’t so…bulky.” 

“No, I mean for bringing you here.” 

“Oh. Yeah. Well, you Watcher-types don’t always know everything, you only sound like you do. Must be the accent.”

Giles’ grimace turned to a half-smile at her gentle jibe. “You were right. I ought to have trusted you.” 

“Yes, you ought.” She wasn’t even out of breath. Remarkable girl. 

“You, ah, were right about something else, too.”

“Ooh, you should get bitten more often. What did I do to deserve Watcher’s remorse?”

“You’re Buffy.” He couldn’t resist the urge to nuzzle the back of her neck.

“Uh-oh. You’re becoming delirious.” 

That’s it. Frighten the girl. He pulled back. “I’m not. But, Buffy, there is something I want you to know, in case - in case…”

“Stop that. You’re gonna be fine.” 

“Yes, but on the off chance I’m not-–"

“Giles, please. This is awkward enough without you going all Marc Antony on me.”

“Sorry?”

“‘I’m dying, Egypt, dying.’” What? Buffy making Shakespeare references? Another portent; the end was near.

“That’s not - that’s not even relevant. As far as death scenes go, you’d have been better off choosing-–"

“See? Not dying. No one who is dying would be correcting me. You’ve hardly stopped. And why doesn’t it work? There were snakes.”

“Cleopatra was the one bitten by the asp, not Marc Antony.” 

“Your point being?”

“Ah, I see. I am meant to be Cleopatra in this scenario?” This wasn’t going well.

“If the ankh fits. Anyway, it’s a technicality. They both died.”

“Everyone dies.” He’d meant to appear philosophical; he sounded maudlin. 

“Not if I can help it. Just a little farther. I see trees.”

Giles tried to rally. Once she reached the top, there would be little time to talk. “Buffy, there’s – there’s something I’ve wanted to tell you, and I’m afraid I may never get the chance.”

“You’re in pain. You’re scared, but you’ve got to trust me. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“I – I love you, Buffy.” There, he’d said it. Now if his head could stop pounding—

“And I love you. Now shush.” Giles frowned. Was she intentionally being obtuse?

“No, I mean, I am in love with you.” Buffy froze. Giles wasn’t certain what he’d expected, but it wasn’t this. After a moment, she resumed climbing.

“I’m going to pretend you did not just say that.”

“But I did. And I do.” 

“This is why it could never work.”

“I don’t understand.” 

“Exactly.” 

Giles’ head ached. “I thought you wanted me to express my feelings. ‘Stop being Represso Man,’ I believe you said.”

“And you’re choosing now, while I’m hauling you up a rock wall because you think you might die before I can get you help? Way to go, Romantic Guy.”

“Well, when you put it that way, it does sound rather –"

“Yes, very rather, so if you don’t mind, I’d prefer to have this conversation later when you’re not Oversized-chatty-backpack Guy.”

Giles' mouth went dry. His head spun. “Buffy, I’m – I’m afraid I’m not feeling too well.”

“Hang on. Almost there. Giles? Giles?”

* * *

Giles groaned. His eyes fluttered open. A blurry figure leaned towards him. Buffy.

“Good news! You survived!” 

He cleared his throat. “Water?”

Giles struggled to sit upright. Buffy pushed the button on his hospital bed until he nodded for her to stop. She placed his glasses on his face and picked up a cup of water by the side of his bed. As he reached for it, Buffy brushed his hand aside and lifted it to his lips.

“Here you go.” 

Giles took a sip, placed his hand over hers, tilted the small plastic cup, and gulped down the rest.

“Thank you,” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Dare he ask? “What happened?”

“Before or after you fainted?”

“Fainted? I was poisoned.”

“Venomed? As it turns out, no.” Buffy brushed his hair away from his forehead and smiled.

“What do you mean? I was bitten.”

“By a large, non-venomous gopher snake. They tell me they’re often mistaken for rattlesnakes. The bite hurt a lot, your body kinda resisted. A mild allergic reaction, the doctor said.” 

Oh, dear. “Mild? How…fortunate.” 

“Yes, I thought so.”

Giles closed his eyes and turned away. Could this day get any worse? Buffy reached for his hand. Giles squeezed her fingers in response. He was alive; Buffy was by his side. This day could be worse, far worse.

“Anyway, it turns out it was good that I brought the snake back with us. Even squashed, it made it easier for the doctors to figure out how to treat you.”

Giles rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. “My hero. But then, you always were.”

“They don’t call me the Chosen One for nothing.”

He studied her. For the first time since he’d known her, she looked pleased to be the Slayer. “Buffy?”

“Yes, Giles?”

“I’m no longer ‘Oversized-chatty-backpack Guy.’”

Buffy laughed. “Nope.”

“And, ostensibly, I am no longer dying.”

“That’s what they tell me.” She played with his fingers. He abruptly pulled her hand to his chest.

“Would you mind terribly if we talked now?” he asked.

Buffy’s look of surprise turned to delight.

“Just let me wipe…you have a little...” She reached over and rubbed something off the side of his mouth.

Giles smiled. “Better?”

“Much,” she beamed back.

He clasped her hand in both of his. “I do love you, Buffy. I know I ought to have said so sooner, back when - when, well, before, weeks ago, when you’d come to me. I know it mustn’t have been easy, asking if I had feelings for you and having me deny it. I should have confessed then, but, honestly, you’d caught me off-guard. I hadn’t planned on telling you, ever. I’ve spent these past weeks thinking of little else. I wanted to tell you the truth. I hoped to on this trip, beneath the stars, by the roar of the fire…”

Buffy scrunched her nose. “So, I wasn’t imagining everything?”

“What can I say?” Giles asked at a loss.

“You can say, ‘Buffy, I was wrong to pretend I thought you were crazy to avoid admitting my feelings for you.’”

“It was wrong, and I am sorry. It wasn’t fair. You weren’t imagining things.” Giles looked down. “I – I was afraid.”

“Of being with me?”

His eyes flew to hers. “No, not that. Never that,” he said, pulling her hand to his lips to kiss it before continuing, “I think I was afraid _for_ you if that makes any sense. I want so much more for you, Buffy. You deserve better than an old man. Someone young and strong.” He turned his head in shame. “Someone who doesn’t faint when bitten by a gopher snake.”

Buffy placed a finger on his chin and guided his face back towards her. Their eyes met. 

“And yet, I’d rather be with my old, weak, flawed, brilliant, adorable, devoted Watcher.”

“Do you mean that?” 

“Uh-huh.”

“Kiss me?”

“With day-old-hiking-in-a-cave-bitten-by-a snake-hospital breath?” She smiled. “Absolutely.”


End file.
